Wicklow County Council has reversed its opposition to the creation of a superdump at Ballynagran, near Rathnew. The decision yesterday turned on the casting vote of the chairman, Mr Pat Vance of Fianna Fail.
A special meeting had been called to discuss the "waste management crisis" in the county. Mr Vance's vote allowed the county manager to proceed with a variation of the draft county development plan.
The council had twice in the last four years passed resolutions calling on the county manager to drop his plans for the creation of the dump on a 300-acre site, described as prime agricultural land.
In reversing their opposition, the members effectively sidestepped the High Court ruling won by the Ballynagran Action Group earlier this year. The group had successfully argued before Mrs Justice McGuinness that the creation of the dump was a matter for the council members and not the county manager.
At yesterday's meeting Mr Dick Roche (Fianna Fail) said, "It is little wonder that people are cynical about politicians. The council has been dangerously inconsistent and has ignored the fact that the present Ballymurtagh dump has filled up with waste from Dublin."
Mr Roche described a warning from the county engineer, Mr Michael Looby, that commercial waste collection would have to be suspended in five weeks' time as "a bogus attempt to blackmail elected representatives."
Mr Liam Kavanagh (Labour) appealed to councillors "not to be panicked" into voting for the dump. "The engineer, Mr Looby, said this thing cannot be built till the year 2000 at the earliest. Therefore it cannot have any effect on commercial waste collection within five weeks."
However, in urging backing for the manager's proposal to proceed with a draft variation of the development plan, Mr Vance said the members would have another opportunity to vote on the scheme in three months' time.
"What we are asking this council to approve is the proposal to allow the manager to proceed with a public display of the draft variation. That is part of the statutory process.
"You are not being asked to approve the dump at this stage, let's be perfectly clear on that. The plan will go out for public display for three months, but then will come back to the council for a decision."
After the vote Mr Vance said he was disappointed and disgusted to have to use his casting vote - particularly as no one throughout the debate had indicated where else the dump could go.